The planning on our defence in the last few years is not impressive. For a long time we had Vertonghen & Toby who were our rocks but it is clear that we should have planned for their replacements. Sanchez was one and the other turned out to be converting Dier back into a CB the rest have been youngsters who need time to develop. It has always been the case that defenders need much longer to develop than forwards. Players like Ledley King and Rio Ferdinand are rare, very rare. Tanganga and Rondon both have potential but both need time to develop. It's even possible that Sanchez can come good. We should have picked up a couple of old heads from lower down the PL to fill in, perhaps we should still do that. I'm sure PNP or DH could find us some.
Pairing Skriniar with Sanchez would have got around the pace issue, of if we were feeling brave Skriniar and Tanganga, however a back four with Sanchez and Aurier in it would have a lot of potential brainfarts to contend with that our approach was determined to exacerbate
For me Hoddle, Pleat, AVB, Sherwood and JM was not a matter of luck. They were bad decisions. Hoddle hung Beckham out to dry, very publicly as England manager. He did the same with Gasgoigne when he dropped him from the England squad. If memory serves me right he refused to drop him after he was convicted of beating his wife up (said that it was not his place to judge) but did drop him after he was photographed eating a burger. I also have a memory that he wrote a diary DURING the world cup which pussed off players. These are just a couple of examples of his very poor man management skills and there are a fair few others from his time at Chelsea and Southampton. AVB could not get Chelsea to deliver a thing yet just 3 months after he was sacked Chelsea a novice manager won the fa cup and champions league with them...while we hired AVB. Sherwood was and always will be a numpty. JM was as a bad a choice for us as it was possible to make imo. I agree that Santini, Ramos, Jol and Pochettino were risks but would suggest that Redknapp was a very low risk. People take risks all the time but I would doubt the judgement of someone who takes enormous risks as there is no logic in it. Betting on who can win the league involves a risk...but you can minimise the risk by betting on the teams most likely to win. I would say that the risk in employing Jol was minimised by him being highly recommended by Arnessen who Levy trusted. I would say the risk in employing Redknapp was minimal as he'd only had one bad job (Southampton) out of the previous 15 years and had a very good reputation. I'd say that Pochettino was a bigger risk but he had a decent reputation. This is in stark contrast to AVB, (whose confidence was shot) Sherwood (who was a numpty) Pleat (who was no longer a manager) and especially JM (who was never going to work out well). I can accept the Hoddle mistake as it was the first appointment. I think Santini was rated so get that mistake. While I think that we treated Jol disgracefully I see why they took a risk on Ramos. This is a very long winded way of saying Levy is not making sensible managerial decisions for me.
Much as I agree with on Hoddle and his wierd personal views and calling out Gazza on TV during the tournament was disgusting and I thought so at the time and that's where he fell out of favour as far as I am concerned. Despite all that he had enjoyed some success at Swindon and Chelsea and looked at that stage like a modern innovating manager which is wht he was chosen as England boss. There are enough pointers in his career to seduce Spurs into wanting one of their all time player heroes to manage. Again you are using hindsight
Sherwood is a twat, but he was a good appointment and ending it was also good. Villas-Boas had to go and we needed somebody to get us to the end of the season in decent shape, which he did. Redknapp was a risk. He was roughly on a par with Allardyce, Pulis and the like, albeit with more attractive football. We raised his stock massively, to the point that he'd have got the England job if he wasn't such a dodgy bastard. He's bombed horribly since, failing miserably at QPR and Birmingham, though both clubs are quite a mess.
There is a lot to be said about the fact that we don't have anyone organising the back line. Hugo isn't vocal enough, Dier has zero positional awareness and Toby - as well as having lost a yard of pace - just isn't a leader and therefore isn't even able to make his experience count by marshalling younger players like Reguilon and Sanchez properly. I'd be more than happy taking a new CB with a lack of pace if they had the gift of leadership and organisation. So many of our goals conceded have been a result of players miles out of position, players not concentrating on the line and playing their opponent onside, players getting in each other's way etc. This is why I'd happily bring in Sergio Ramos, plonk him in the middle of the current mess, give him the armband and carte blanche to bollock anyone who so much as thinks about wandering out of position.
To the extent that they've released a statement about it! https://www.celticfc.com/news/2021/may/Statement-by-Celtic-Football-Club/ WTF is that about?
Sorry but I have always thought it...said it at the time to mates. There is plenty I am wrong about...thought Pochettino was too much of a gamble for example. Tbh I probably am too harsh but Levy broke my trust in him with JMs appointment, furlough, ESL and sacking him with nothing definite sorted.
Just in case anyone thought that my prediction league piss taking was bad, here are Conte's thoughts on Inter's Scudetto win. “Honestly, I dedicate it to myself. I know that it has not been an easy path in these two years, I had to get everything out. In certain moments, doubts arise, even about yourself, but I have overcome everything and everyone and in the end it is the demonstration that we have all been good. Even myself.”
I guess they mean reasons beyond both Howe and Celtic’s control. Missus didn’t fancy swapping the South coast for Glasgow then
A lot of the time the simple reason for having players out of position boiled down to our right flank being a fine example of disaster dominoes, because so many times we were caught out by at least two of the following happening at the same time i.) Aurier being high up the pitch as that was the role we chose for him ii.) Bale or Bergwijn not covering Aurier when he pushed up down the right iii.) Sissoko or Winks drifting out to the right to try and plug the gap, only to create a new gap instead iv.) Hojbjerg trying to do too much to cover one of the gaps and leave himself isolated v.) As our CBs were drilled to pass to Hojbjerg or their respective CB, any opponent pressing Hojbjerg saw us aimlessly hoof the ball upfield vi.) The team being instructed to sit back saw our midfield overrun to the point they may as well have nipped off to have a pint While having a commanding CB could potentially have curbed some of Aurier's more reckless forays forward, and also had plenty of communication with the CMs to keep them in position instead of spreading out too wide, what it couldn't have prevented was the lack of cover we had on our right if Lamela or (latterly) Lucas was playing, our tactical approach limiting our defence's options when trying to relieve pressure which only brought pressure back onto ourselves, or wilfully surrendering midfield Not that I am against signing a commanding CB, after all I've been on the Skriniar train since last season when he was first linked with us, but the flaws in our squad coupled with the way our tactical approach exacerbated those flaws would have only served to expose Skriniar's lack of pace and make him look considerably short of the player we thought we were signing And this is the biggest issue of this season: most of our managers from the past twenty years could have got plenty out of Skriniar either because by playing on the front foot we'd have had him operate as a sweeper (Jol, Redknapp, Poch), or the team was set up to be bloody-minded and he'd have been the last line of defence (Graham, Santini, Villas-Boas), but because our approach was a Frankenstein's monster of a squad built to play on the front foot was expected to be bloody-minded we wound up with a team that could probably make a defence of Thuram, Cannavaro, Baresi and Maldini look like a bunch of rabbits in the headlights with the way our midfield vanished from matches
You could say that but I think Conte’s proven he’s a lot more adaptable to the modern game. Jose was brilliant from around 2002-2014, Conte’s been brilliant since 2011-present. Both have stern types of character though who demand 100% commitment and they love a solid defence - something Conte would need to work on should he come. I think fans would enjoy his football a bit more than Jose’s but probably not as much as “2017 Spurs Pochettino’s”. I do believe that Conte is probably one of the top three managers in the world right now, whether he’d work well with Levy and co though would be the sticking point. I reckon he’d want a fair bit of control/ say on things and I’m not quite sure whether or not Levy would give in to all of his demands, because he is a bit of a diva.
Do you know if it's a reliable source? Seems fanciful to me, as PSG have released a statement saying he ain't going nowhere...but tbh I have no idea WTF is going on
